This is one of many plants that grew up in a rototilled section of the Old Field Habitat. It is a new species for the list. It can grow to about 5 feet, but this is closer to 3ft or just over. It is a non-native species, an annual.

These two obligingly landed on some raspberry leaves which had turned a lovely shade of orange. It made an effective backdrop for these two!

I found these opalescent eggs on a blade of grass. At first I thought they were just a patch of white from a bird dropping, but decided to look more closely and this is what I saw. Scores of minute eggs all clustered together on both sides of the grass blade, the length measuring perhaps 2 cm. I had to place a leaf under the grass blade in order to photograph the eggs. I think they are quite beautiful! Diane tells me that these are moth eggs.

This small section which was mowed and then rototilled a couple of months ago, has been quickly re-vegetated with a wide variety of plants, both native and not. Here, the "foamy" appearance is from the panic grass (Panicum sp) that is spread amongst all the other plants.

The small, sometimes ubiquitous, spotted lady beetle is common around aquatic environments as well as in upland habitats. This is the larval form, and in its own right, as with almost all lady beetle larvae, it is a fierce predator. Photographed by Diane in the Amphibian Pond.

Diane also photographed this interesting half-emergence. Not sure what happened here, but this adult darner was unable to complete its emergence from the larval skin. Not sure which darner it is, but could be the common green darner, which is fairly common at the garden. It is a migrant species that is always one of the first dragonflies to appear in the spring.

This very attractive little leafhopper, is also known as a sharpshooter leafhopper, and is in the sub-family Sharpshooters (Cicadellinae). They primarily feed on grass and sedge, and Diane photographed this one in the Amphibian Pond.

This tiny little wasp is checking out the bee box for leafcutter bee nests which she will then parasitize. If you look closely, you can see her ovipositor is folded along her back, out of the way. Very ingenious. You can also see that it looks pretty sturdy, which it has to be to probe into the well-constructed nests and lay her eggs.

This is the brown form of the praying mantis (or, European mantis as it is sometimes called). It was found in the butterfly meadow. Earlier, a lovely vivid green one was noticed not far from where we saw an American Bittern!

This beautiful wasp is nectaring on goldenrod. They get their confusing name of beewolf from the fact that they prey on bees with which they stock their nests for the larvae to feed on.

Another new addition to the FWG insect list, this large (about 14 mm) wasp is very attractive in both pattern and colour. They are called beewolf, because they catch bees (and sometimes wasps) to put in their nests for the larvae to eat.

Every August, these large wasps (approx. 17 mm)turn up and nectar on the goldenrods. I find them very, very attractive, very cleanly black and white, with green eyes. TThey tend to prey mostly, if not exclusively, on stinkbugs (Pentatomidae).

All spring and summer volunteers spend time cutting, scything, pulling out DSV, a very invasive species. When it is cut, it quickly sends out a side shoot as here, which also quickly produces flowers and then seedpods.

I find all the fruit flies in the family Tephritidae to be exceptionally pretty, and this one is no exception. It is one of the larger fruit flies, and is also relatively common.

Another new addition to our FWG insect list. I found this in the Butterfly Meadow, nectaring on goldenrod.

This large tachinid fly is another new addition to our FWG insect list. We found it while mothing at night in the Ash Woods. It seems to have a damaged left leg. This is a fairly common fly throughout this area and I guess we've just not noticed it before at the garden, though I have seen it elsewhere in the region.

Barry took this pretty photo showing the hummingbird moth (a sphinx moth), at the garden phlox in the Backyard Garden. We have seen these moths at the phlox often, and hummingbirds will also visit, behaving in the same manner as these lovely moths.

One of many house finches at the garden today. There was a lot of activity around the FWG, including a cooper's hawk, gray catbirds, yellow warblers, house wrens, rose-breasted grosbeaks, robins, American redstarts, amongst many more. American goldfinches were abundant!

These tiny (about 5mm) flies with the bright green eyes are found commonly on ragweeds, which is their only known larval plant (the larvae feed on the ragweed seeds). But you have to really look to see them as they are so small. But worth the effort because so pretty!

Found on a goldenrod plant, sitting right underneath a green lacewing egg (just barely visible at the top of the photo). The planthoppers are sap sucking insects, not predatory.

A side view of this little tortoise beetle, showing the knobby projections from which some believe it gets its species name (clavata).

One of half a dozen painted ladies around the garden today. I am sure that if the sun had been out, many more would have been seen.

Jumping spiders are my all-time favourites amongst the arachnids. Maybe it is those two huge eyes in the center of their face, so big you almost forget that they have a bunch of other tiny eyes! Or maybe it is their feisty personality. Whatever, it is, they are always special to see. This one is very tiny, about 4 mm, but some, like the black and rusty-red phidippus clarus, are very large.

While this is not an exciting photo, I have added it because it shows the section of the old field that was mowed, then rototilled about 6 weeks ago. We planted some yarrow, joe-pye weed and pearly-everlasting there behind this big growth of 'weeds'. However, what is really interesting, to me, is what has grown up after the rototilling. There is a wealth of vegetation here, both native and non-native. Evening primrose (native) is very common, as is amaranthus, lamb's quarters, and several types of mustards (all non-native). But there are many other species in here as well, What is most interesting is that the invasive dog-strangling vine (cynanchum rossicum) is almost absent in this section, apart from the odd seedling here and there, which I remove. I am leaving the rest because it is better to have this mix than to have the dog-strangling vine grow back. Many of these are annuals, some are biennials, others are perennial plants. It will be fascinating to see what grows back next year. One interesting observation: this area was attracting a lot of bees and other nectar seeking insects.

While sitting on the bench at the Butterfly Meadow, I could hear a house wren calling repeatedly nearby. Eventually I saw a couple of wrens a juvenile, as here, and an adult.

The lovely big heads of the joe-pye weed (Eupatorium purpureum) are attracting many insects these days. We grow both types of joe-pye weed in the Backyard Garden (BYG), the other being E. maculatum which is the one native to this area. This bumble bee is variously called red-banded or red-belted bumble bee.

Sandy found this painted lady at the garden. In recent days large numbers of these butterflies have been found, all very fresh, so recently emerged. They'll be making their way southward now, as they too, are migratory butterflies.

I think these nymphs are very attractive and like so many bugs, they sport variations in pattern of the black and red colouring worn by the adults.

A super sharp shot of a leafcutter bee on common milkweed flowers. As you can see, these bees carry their pollen back to their nest, on their abdomens, in contrast to most bees who carry it in pollen sacs on the legs.

A side view of the leafhopper.

A very cool looking planthopper found by Barry. These relatively large (up to 10mm) planthoppers mimic small leaves.

Sitting on the edge... of the milkweed leaf, that is. It is difficult to resist photographing these creatures, for they are so peculiar and rather endearing!

This tiny first instar caterpillar is so small that it looked like a speck on the milkweed leaf. It was on one of the milkweeds that had just grown up after mowing occurred. There were four monarch eggs on these plants too.

The pretty curving seedhead caught my eye.

This large colourful long-horned beetle (one of the Round-necked longhorns), is on a boneset plant. This species lays its eggs in black locust trees, of which there are many around the Backyard Garden.

The Backyard Garden bird bath was a busy place on Wed. afternoon. Diane said that while she sat the picnic table, she observed chipping sparrow, house finch and goldfinches come to drink and bathe. The water is a real blessing for these birds, and for a number of insects too, in such hot, dry weather. Diane reports that she also saw a monarch and an eastern tailed blue butterfly.

The pink phlox is reflected in the bird bath at the Backyard Garden.